Oak Openings, Toledo Ohio

Today I woke up early on my day off from work and drown the 2.5 hours to Oak Openings with my grandmother. Hoping to meet up with the Kirtland Bird Club that had left Cleveland much earlier this morning, unfortunately we never found them, but instead found a bird group from Detroit, Michigan.

The first birds seen were a pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Bluebirds and an Indigo Bunting. After catching up with the Michigan group the pointed the direction of a Red-headed Woodpecker and where they were seeing the Lark Sparrows a lifer for me. While watching the Lark Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows defending territories, one of the birders spotted a Grasshopper Sparrow on a reed in the field. They put the Grasshopper Sparrow into their field scope giving everybody great looks.

Further down the trail we spotted our first Mourning Dove and one Turkey Vulture, then came the call that one of the birders had found the Summer Tanager a lifer for me. The bird was far off from where we were located but I was able to see the bird and then watched it fly away.

Other notable species seen were Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, Brown Thrasher, Wild Turkeys, Cedar Waxwings nesting, and Baltimore Oriole.

Along the trail one of the birders was able to identify the butterflies as we went along, these included; Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Black Swallowtail, Viceroy and Silver-Spotted Skipper.

The Rookery

Went out to the rookery park in Geauga county today to do some late day birdwatching with my dad. He brought along his camera and snapped photos as we went birding.

Our first few birds were spotted at the nest boxes in the middle of the field, and Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows rested on top of their houses. Once we started the trail I saw American Robins, Song Sparrows, and a Warbling Viero calling from the top of a tree. Further down the path my dad spotted a Green Heron flying into the swamp along the path. In the swamp calling were multiple Red-winged Blackbird and Red-bellied Woodpecker.

At the covered bridge, I was able to psh in to Great-crested Flycatchers (Lifer), a Eastern Kingbird, a Common Yellowthroat, and a Yellow Warbler. A Grey Catbird was calling from a bush along the side of the creek, while two Tufted Titmouses were fluttering around in the bushes.

Closer to the rookery, I was able to see the Great Blue Herons flying to and from their nests, I was also able to hear the squawking of the Blue Herons as they got close to their nests. While pshing the Carolina Wren stuck its head out of its nest and then began to call. A Downy Woodpecker flew to its nest high in a dead tree. In the distance I watched a Wood Duck fly further away while Canadian Geese squawked from the other side of the swamp hidden from view. I watched a Baltimore Oriole fly to the top of a tree on the opposite side of the swamp, while a Blue Jay flew to the other side of the swamp.

We walked further down the path towards Folwers Mill Golf Course, here I could hear a Wood Thrush calling from deeper in the woods, while trying to psh it in, I was able to get a Red-eyed Viero and a Black-capped Chickadee. Further down the path I was able to spot a Veery along the path. Once we reached the end we turned around and started back the same way we had come.

Back at the main swamp I head the familiar calling of the Red-headed Woodpecker (Lifer), the bird was beautiful. It was then joined by a second one and they flew away together. My dad spotted two Cedar Waxwings perched in a dead tree. While pshing I found a male Baltimore Oriole above us giving us great looks at its under side. We walked a little farther down the trail and I spotted a Scarlet Tanager in a tree, the sun lit up its red body giving us great looks. Further down the trail on our way back, we were able to find two Blue-grey Gnatcatchers perched in the trees. Along the side of the path my dad was able to spot a Northern Water Snake and then I spotted a Gardner Snake.

Overall we had 40 species of birds and 2 species of reptiles.

The Rookery

This Memorial Weekend I was lucky to get away from all the festivities to go birdwatching out at The Rookery in Geauga County. The Rookery is named after the are where Great Blue Heron's nest. These are not the only birds seen nesting in the area. While bird watching, I followed a path to a coverage bridge where I was told by a birdwatcher there were sightings of the Red-headed Woodpecker, a bird that I have been trying to get, but have not seen yet.

While waiting I hadmany other birds present themselves to me, first was a pair of Rough-winged Swallows building a nest underneath the bridge, then a pair of Eastern Phoebes landed on the opposite side of the bridge giving me great looks. While pshhing I could hear a Blue-winged Warbler calling from the trees. He finally came closer giving me quick looks before being chased away by a Yellow Warbler. Then I spotted another Warbler in the tree directly above me, the size of the bird looked larger then the typical warblers I was use to seeing, it had a long tail, yellow breast and a white eye ring with a large bill. My guess was a Yellow-breasted Chat (Life Specie), which would be a life for me, later in the car I confirmed that it is what I saw.
Other birds seen were Carolina Wren nesting, Downy Woodpecker nesting, heard the Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starling, Common Grackle, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher nesting, Tree Swallows nesting, Eastern Bluebirds nesting, and Baltimore Orioles nesting.

For the herps I found six Northern Water Snakes and one Green Frog.

Overall a very successful trip, but need to return to see the Red-headed Woodpeckers.